Chicago Secret Burger

Long time lurker, first time poster, but thought this deserved a thread. I had possibly my favorite burger in Chicago, and it comes from a pop-up under the Instagram handle chicagosecretburger. (https://www.instagram.com/chicagosecretburger/?hl=ur).


Chicago Secret Burger

Basically this guy did a lot of research and developed a burger that is best described as a cross between the Red Hot Ranch and The Loyalist burgers. He (and I don't know much about him, but he is a friend of a friend) announces on Instagram when he will be selling and you message him to set up a day/time to pickup from him in Pilsen. Yes, I know ordering a burger through Instagram from someone who is not affiliated with a restaurant, and picking it up outside their apartment is odd to say the least. But I really think this deserves some hype, and the burger speaks for itself. Two fairly thin, crispy salty patties, special sauce, lettuce, tomato, caramelized onion, pickles, and a nicely toasted bun (apparently it is the same bun The Loyalist uses). Even comes with chips, a homemade cookie, and a coke all for $16 ($18 for a beyond burger version).

If this style burger is up your ally than follow him on Instagram and see if you can get your hands on one. I think chicagosecretburger deserves to be considered one of the top Chicago burgers, so I am curious what other folks will think.

SonofJonah wrote:Long time lurker, first time poster, but thought this deserved a thread. I had possibly my favorite burger in Chicago, and it comes from a pop-up under the Instagram handle chicagosecretburger. (https://www.instagram.com/chicagosecretburger/?hl=ur).


Chicago Secret Burger

Basically this guy did a lot of research and developed a burger that is best described as a cross between the Red Hot Ranch and The Loyalist burgers. He (and I don't know much about him, but he is a friend of a friend) announces on Instagram when he will be selling and you message him to set up a day/time to pickup from him in Pilsen. Yes, I know ordering a burger through Instagram from someone who is not affiliated with a restaurant, and picking it up outside their apartment is odd to say the least. But I really think this deserves some hype, and the burger speaks for itself. Two fairly thin, crispy salty patties, special sauce, lettuce, tomato, caramelized onion, pickles, and a nicely toasted bun (apparently it is the same bun The Loyalist uses). Even comes with chips, a homemade cookie, and a coke all for $16 ($18 for a beyond burger version).

If this style burger is up your ally than follow him on Instagram and see if you can get your hands on one. I think chicagosecretburger deserves to be considered one of the top Chicago burgers, so I am curious what other folks will think.

Was maybe-intrigued... until the price. I'm a big supporter/patron of Red Hot Ranch, and there you get a single, with hand cut fries, for 5 bucks (6 if you want a double). Plus, now that we're going through the end of days, I guess I prefer to support restaurants that are: licensed and subject to health inspections, paying staff, paying taxes, etc. Charging $16 for an illegal burger, when the purveyor has little to no overhead, is unethical at best.

jellob1976 wrote:
Was maybe-intrigued... until the price. I'm a big supporter/patron of Red Hot Ranch, and there you get a single, with hand cut fries, for 5 bucks (6 if you want a double). Plus, now that we're going through the end of days, I guess I prefer to support restaurants that are: licensed and subject to health inspections, paying staff, paying taxes, etc. Charging $16 for an illegal burger, when the purveyor has little to no overhead, is unethical at best.

That's fair. $16 for a cheeseburger is something I understandably expect some people would see unreasonable, and especially given competitors like RHR offer much cheaper. Personally, for a really good product an extra $5-10 is usually worth it, and I consider this a very good product. But again, that is just me. I don't know if I see it as unethical though. True, he doesn't have staff, but I'm not really one to judge what profit margin makes it worth his time (and while I assume his overhead is much cheaper than a typical restaurant, I don't actually know how much the product costs him to make). If he can sell it at that price then more power to him. It's a burger, not hand sanitizer.

So you would favor eliminating the health inspection system and allowing anyone to sell any food anywhere.

I can't imagine who is actually buying this product besides friends of friends.

Looks like a solid burger. I've had a delicious veal parm sandwich out of someone's house and lived to to tell the story, so maybe i'll give it a shot! Already following. Price/ethics/health codes be damned!

lougord99 wrote:So you would favor eliminating the health inspection system and allowing anyone to sell any food anywhere.

I can't imagine who is actually buying this product besides friends of friends.

Eliminating health inspectors across the board seems a bit extreme. I see this like the Chicago Tamale Guy. I have no idea how often the health inspector checks out his operation, but thousands of Chicagoan's have enjoyed his food. This is a small operation just for those that seek it out. But yes, I still get why this would feel weird to a lot of people and don't blame you for taking a pass.

I think this pretty clearly is inspired by, or at least in the same mindset, as EatFreePizza, which was/is an incredibly popular Instagram pizza pop-up which has morphed into Pizza Fried Chicken Ice Cream, a brick and mortar collaboration with Kimski, Maria's, and Pretty Cool Ice Cream.

They make an excellent pizza, definitely among the best I've ever had, and I certainly didn't have an objection to going to enjoy one - I didn't think about it for one second. Nor did thousands of Instagram followers throughout Chicago including a lot of well respected people within the food and beverage industry, which resulted in each pop up selling out in less than 60 seconds.

Now, one big difference is the pizza was FREE..and these burgers are not only not free, but borderline unreasonably expensive. But they didn't sell because they were free, they sold because they were great. Now the EatFreePizza guys sell pizzas for pick up for about $40 a pop during the shutdown which is steep, but they're also pretty large and claim to serve "four big eaters" and routinely sell out. Is $40 for a pizza more reasonable than $16 for a burger that comes with a side and desert? Maybe? I suppose it all depends on how good the burger is. And I guess one could argue that a burger is more susceptible to various unsanitary practices by the individual cooking them, as opposed to pizza. But I think even that's a stretch.

I'm interested to see where this weird, apartmentburger enterprise goes.

We've gone over this a few times, Tacos - 18 Miles to the Gallon for example. Not saying the ethics of non licensed food shouldn't be discussed, it should be but, there are neighborhoods where every third corner is filled with off-book fruit, tamale and goat head taco vendors.

Me, I have plenty of room in my heart for Red Hot Ranch, Zaragoza, which started as a wood-burning oven in their backyard, and some foodie entrepreneur trying to make a few bucks off a tip-top burger. Maybe I'll even sell chili oil out of my garage one day.

This looks awesome! I've actually had a couple great meals from chefs that are selling dishes on ig the last few weeks.

Social media has been a great way to learn about both restaurants and individuals offering unique offerings during the pandemic

Looks good to me! These "social media pop-ups" have actually been a thing in LA for a while now. I've been waiting for them to take off in Chicago, and even flirted with the idea of doing one of my own. I expect them to be in full bloom soon as covid has changed things forever. In fact I've ordered tacos de canasta, micheladas, and potstickers over instagram in the last couple months or so. Actually there's another guy in Humboldt Park doing burgers through instagram. He delivers the burger to the customer from a third floor apartment using a basket and rope.

I have no problem with food entrepreneurs taking things into their own hands especially during these times. The way the restaurant system was set up wasn't working even before covid. Plain and simple it costs too much to open your own spot, and that's after you jump through all the hula hoops on a local government level. Margins are so thin that places didn't have money saved for a rainy day or in the case of Coronavirus a stage five tornado. Even before covid reached the States I was of the belief that pop-up's are the future. Some will be regulated and licensed and covered by Eater etc. and others will be low key startups that have the chance of going fully legal if it all works out.

I guess it's just up the consumer to decide if it's worth the risk. I can say from a personal standpoint I've never gotten sick from an unlicensed food vendor. Two of the best taco spots to come around in some time are both "pop-ups". I've eaten at both of them countless times and never had so much as a case of the runs. Not only are these pop-up vendors specialists (focusing on 1 or 2 things and doing them really well) but they're usually buying food for the day or maybe the weekend. They tend to buy as much as they need most always selling out. So it's all fresh. The Tamale Man was just served a cease and desist letter by the city so I'm not sure he was even licensed this entire time. What I do know for sure is if he was an actual threat to public health he would've been visited before last week.

WhyBeeSea wrote:This looks awesome! I've actually had a couple great meals from chefs that are selling dishes on ig the last few weeks.

Social media has been a great way to learn about both restaurants and individuals offering unique offerings during the pandemic

I am curious how you find these food based social media popups for Chicagoland area? I would love to try some unique entrepreneurs creations but for $16 for a burger with no overhead seems a little like price gauging!

I find a lot of them through Instagram - I follow lots of people and try to make sure I keep an eye on people doing cool things (Cellar Door Provisions, Bungalow by Middlebrow, Pretty Cool Ice Cream, Ramen Lord) and inevitably someone posts something that someone else posted or posts to try and help a friend out, I see it, follow that person for next time, and so on.

polster wrote:I would love to try some unique entrepreneurs creations but for $16 for a burger with no overhead seems a little like price gauging!

The term price gouging gets thrown around too casually, IMO. A vendor pricing their product way above market expectations isn't price gouging. There's no supply or demand shock being unfairly or unreasonably exploited. Not buying this expensive burger is the easiest thing one could do, there's nothing essential about it giving him leverage. If people are willing to pay $16, he's right to charge that. If they're willing to pay $30, he should charge that. It might be obnoxious, but there's nothing unethical about it. Make every penny you can. As we see with massive unemployment crossing the country, and dining sector specifically, you never know when the rainy day will come.

Unethical? Give me a break and give me that burger.

No one's holding a gun to the customers' heads and they know the parameters going in. And this is hardly an essential good. For those reasons, I just don't see this as unethical, though I can easily see why it'd be a hard no for some.

It looks good but that's a long drive for an expensive burger that may or may not be there once you arrive.

=R=

It's actually more of a $14 burger as the OP stated, the chips, Coke and cookie seem to get overlooked in the discourse

I follow a few chefs and they'll post about different things they're making and selling. And then they'll also post about friends that are also making stuff. I've ordered some bing breads, pasta and some pies which have all been great.

Actually there's another guy in Humboldt Park doing burgers through instagram. He delivers the burger to the customer from a third floor apartment using a basket and rope.

Da Beef, can you provide a link? This sounds like something I have to try.

SonofJonah wrote:Long time lurker, first time poster, but thought this deserved a thread.

I think you posted twice in 2014 shortly after you joined.

polster wrote:

WhyBeeSea wrote:This looks awesome! I've actually had a couple great meals from chefs that are selling dishes on ig the last few weeks.

Social media has been a great way to learn about both restaurants and individuals offering unique offerings during the pandemic

I am curious how you find these food based social media popups for Chicagoland area? I would love to try some unique entrepreneurs creations but for $16 for a burger with no overhead seems a little like price gauging!

I remember when people were accusing the owners of Great Lake pizza of price gouging and trying to get rich from their pizza place. I would gladly have paid much more than the asking price for the privilege of being served their pizza.

Da Beef, Im with Semper Fudge, you can't drop an Instagram burger via rope from 3rd floor apartment reference without a link. I need to know more!! My internet and Instragram searches have proven futile.

My stomach thanks you in advance!

If he was making a killer homemade Italian beef recipe it would be worth it but not another burger.